Washington (George) got it right

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George Washington was the first President of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. He also served as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, and he has the distinction of being the only President unanimously elected by the Electoral College.

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The second U.S. President, John Adams, served from 1797 to 1801. He was also the first vice president of the United States, and he was the first President to reside in the White House, moving in on November 1, 1800, while the White House was still under construction.

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Thomas Jefferson, the third President (1801-1809), was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. While President, Jefferson doubled the size of the United States by purchasing the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803.

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James Madison, the fourth President (1809-1817), was nicknamed the "Father of the Constitution." During his presidency, the first formal declaration of war was enacted -- the War of 1812 with Great Britain.

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James Monroe (1817-1825) was the last of the Founding Fathers to be elected President. During his seventh State of the Union address, he outlined a foreign policy that warned European powers against further colonization of or meddling in the Western Hemisphere. This was later known as the Monroe Doctrine.

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John Quincy Adams (1825-1829) was the son of second President John Adams. He was the only President to serve in the House of Representatives after serving as President.

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Andrew Jackson (1829-1837) was the only President to serve in both the American Revolution and the War of 1812. He is also the only President to have been a former prisoner of war: Jackson was 13 when became a courier during the Revolutionary War, and he was later captured by the British.

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Martin Van Buren (1837-1841) was the first President to be born a U.S. citizen. Previous Presidents were born before the United States was a country, making them colonists and, consequently, citizens of Great Britain.

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William Henry Harrison (1841) probably had only just finished unpacking his things at the White House when he died of pneumonia one month into his term. Harrison was the first U.S. President to die while in office, and he had the shortest tenure ever of any commander-in-chief.

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John Tyler's term (1841-1845) saw several presidential firsts. He was the first vice president to succeed office after the President died, he was the first to lose his wife while in office, and he was the first to marry while in office.

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James K. Polk (1845-1849) oversaw the greatest expansion of territory of any President in history. The expansion included what would become the future states of Texas and California. Polk also negotiated with Britain to establish the boundaries of the Oregon Country.

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Zachary Taylor (1849-1850), aka "Old Rough and Ready," was a hero in the Mexican-American War. Mystery surrounds his actual cause of death from a stomach ailment. Did he just eat too many cherries, or was it murder? The 1991 exhumation of his body proved it wasn't arsenic poisoning at least.

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Millard Fillmore (1850-1853) was the last President who was neither a Democrat or a Republican. He helped pass the Compromise of 1850, legislation that included the Fugitive Slave Act and California's admission to the Union as a free state.

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Franklin Pierce (1853-1857) was the first President to not get his party's nomination for re-election. He signed the controversial Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed the people there to decide whether to allow slavery. This worsened the tension between the North and South.

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James Buchanan (1857-1861) was the only President who never married. He failed to prevent seven pro-slavery states from seceding during his term.

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Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865), purveyor of tall top hats and log cabins, preserved the Union during the Civil War and freed the slaves through the Emancipation Proclamation. He was assassinated by actor John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer.

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Andrew Johnson's (1865-1869) trial by impeachment in the U.S. Senate resulted in his acquittal by a single vote. History gives him a terrible performance review: His plan for post-war Reconstruction failed, and he had little support from Congress or the public.

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Tasked with unifying the country after the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877) established the Department of Justice to protect the rights of freed slaves. He also authorized the military to fight the Ku Klux Klan and successfully lobbied for the 15th Amendment, granting voting rights to black men.

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Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881) promoted women's rights, signing legislation that allowed female lawyers to argue Supreme Court cases. He introduced the White House Easter Egg Roll as a spring tradition and established the first presidential library.

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Just four months into his term, James Garfield (1881) was shot by a disgruntled lawyer who'd aspired to join the administration as a diplomat. The President was taken to the Jersey Shore, where doctors hoped the ocean air would help him recover. He died two weeks later.

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Chester Arthur (1881-1885) signed a bill mandating a merit-based system for hiring public workers. The idea was to curb patronage and politically motivated appointments.

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Grover Cleveland (1885-1889; 1893-1897) was the first and only commander-in-chief to serve two non-consecutive terms. He was also the first bachelor President to be married at the White House.

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Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) signed into law the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which authorized the government to fine large corporations for price fixing and other corrupt business practices.

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William McKinley (1897-1901) led the country through the Spanish-American War, a three-month conflict that began with the sinking of the USS Maine and ended with Cuban independence. During the beginning of McKinley's second term, he was fatally shot by an anarchist.

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At 42, Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) was the youngest man to take the oath of office. A progressive reformer and environmental advocate, Roosevelt brought lawsuits against corporate trusts, taking on business giants to level the playing field for the working class.

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William Howard Taft (1909-1913) also served as the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in his post-presidency years. During his re-election bid, he managed to win only eight of 531 electoral votes -- the poorest performance of an incumbent president seeking re-election.

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Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize for proposing and creating the League of Nations. But he was never able to convince the United States to join. Although he was first opposed to a federal amendment allowing women to vote, Wilson shifted his position during his second term and the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920.

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Warren G. Harding's term (1921-1923) was cut short by his sudden death from a cerebral hemorrage. Harding captured 60% of the popular vote in 1920, marking the largest presidential landslide to date.

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Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) served as vice president until the death of Warren G. Harding. His 1924 campaign slogan was "Keep Cool with Coolidge," and his nickname was "Silent Cal" because of his reputation as a man of few words.

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Herbert Hoover (1929-1933) was inaugurated on the year of the stock market crash that sent the country into the Great Depression. Although Hoover pushed for money to be appropriated for large-scale projects, he opposed federal relief payments directly to individuals. The national economy never recovered during his term, and the shantytowns that developed were nicknamed "Hoovervilles."

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Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) was the only President elected to the office four times. During his 12 years as President, he championed numerous social programs and measures, including the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Civilian Conservation Corps and Social Security. Roosevelt contracted polio at age 39 and never recovered the use of his legs.

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Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) served as vice president for 82 days before the unexpected death of Roosevelt. He authorized the use of two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961) had been supreme commander of the European Allied forces during World War II, and he ordered the Normandy invasion on D-Day. His popular presidential campaign slogan was "I like Ike!"

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John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) was the first Roman Catholic President. He was assassinated in his first term, which was marked by the signing of the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, the creation of the Peace Corps, the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion, and the beginning of military involvement in Vietnam.

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Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969) was vice president under John F. Kennedy and took the oath of office on a plane after Kennedy was assassinated. In 1964, Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, the landmark legislation that banned segregation and discrimination based on race and gender. The law was a cornerstone of Johnson's vision of a "Great Society" that also included a "war on poverty."

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Richard Nixon (1969-1974) became the first President to resign from office as he faced impeachment for his involvement in the Watergate scandal. Nixon made strides in domestic policy, proposing legislation that resulted in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency. Abroad, he established relations with China and a détente in Soviet relations.

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Gerald Ford (1974-1977) had been appointed vice president by Nixon after Spiro Agnew was forced to resign. He then became President when Nixon himself resigned. Remembered mainly for his pardon of Nixon and his physical clumsiness, Ford was not elected to a second term.

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Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) brokered the 1978 Camp David Accords, the agreement that led to a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. At home, Carter's presidency was plagued by inflation and unemployment, and he lost his bid for a second term amid the hostage crisis in Iran.

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Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) was the only actor ever elected President, and his talent as a speaker earned him the moniker "the great communicator." An affable Republican who wooed many Roosevelt Democrats, the staunchly anti-communist Reagan is seen as having played a large part in the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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George H.W. Bush (1989-1993) was a former CIA director and served two terms as vice president under Ronald Reagan. His approval rating at home soared after he led an international coalition to oust Iraq from Kuwait, and communism in Eastern Europe fell on his watch. But he lost his bid for re-election amid a sluggish economy and after reneging on a promise not to raise taxes.

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Bill Clinton (1993-2001) ran on the slogan, "It's the economy, stupid." Plagued by various scandals -- including accusations of sexual impropriety -- he was the second president to be impeached. He was acquitted in 1999.

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George W. Bush (2001-2009) is the son of former President George H.W. Bush. His presidency was largely defined by his response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In 2003, he ordered the invasion of Iraq on suspicion that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

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Barack Obama (2009-2017) became the first African-American to hold the office of President. He took the oath of office amid the Great Recession, the biggest economic challenge since the Great Depression. Under the Affordable Healthcare Act, millions of uninsured Americans have gotten health insurance.

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Story highlights

Robert Alexander: Shenanigans in Congress show wisdom of George Washington

Washington argued that political parties would seek to perpetuate themselves at all costs

Tea party may share concern about debt, but its position endangers U.S. credit, he says

Alexander: Most Americans are in the middle, not sympathetic to ideologues of the two parties

The first President of the United States got it right. In his farewell address, George Washington warned of the "continual mischiefs of the spirit of party" making it the "interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it." In other words, he cautioned against the dangers of political parties.

Washington was keenly aware of the destructive nature of political parties and was concerned they would "enfeeble public administration." With myriad affected agencies and thousands of furloughed federal workers, this is exactly where the country finds itself today.

Washington is not typically held in the same intellectual esteem that some of his counterparts are -- Madison, Hamilton and Jefferson come to mind. However, Washington's farewell address is among the most prescient documents ever penned by a President. In it, he cautioned against the vengeful practices of political parties. To him, parties put their own interests above those of the country.

He warned: "The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism." Both parties today would likely level such charges against one another, while most Americans recognize that both parties share responsibility for the current situation.

Robert Alexander

In addition to his concerns about political party mischief, he also warned of the dangers of accumulating debt. He argued that for a country to enjoy safety and strength, it should "cherish public credit." Running up debt would be tantamount to unethical behavior to future generations.

Tea party Republicans have succeeded in heeding Washington's concern by bringing the eyes of the country squarely upon the issue of debt. However, the recalcitrance of the tea party Republicans to compromise has also put the country at great risk, at least in Washington's eyes, given his dedication to maintaining America's credit.

Washington was not a fan of taxation, but he abhorred debt even more. He wrote: "It is essential that you should practically bear in mind that towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant."

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Washington encouraged future generations to change policies they did not like by constitutional amendment or through the electoral process, rather than positioning their party to enjoy short-term benefits.

The first President's dislike for political parties still fits with the reality in which most Americans live today.

Political scientist Morris Fiorina has argued that the divisions between Americans have been far overblown. He contends that the so-called culture wars are a myth. While the neat and tidy categories of red and blue states make for interesting media narratives, they fail to depict accurately the ideological beliefs of the citizenry.

Fiorina points out that most Americans are not hard-core ideologues. On the whole, Americans are far more agreeable on most issues than the media depict. We love a good fight and as conflict tends to attract audiences, the media are quick to point to areas where conflict exists. Yet agreement among citizens is the norm, rather than the exception.

The effect of the polarized nation narrative is disillusionment for many Americans and undue influence for the more ideological in our midst.

Some context is helpful. While more than $2.6 billion was spent in the 2012 presidential campaign, 40% of Americans still chose to sit the election out. Those who do participate typically are among the most ideological in the electorate. This tends to produce candidates who are in turn more ideologically oriented.

When more ideological candidates are chosen in primaries, it leads to more ideological choices for voters. These choices likely do not reflect the preferences of the average citizen but instead more likely reflect the preferences among a party's more ideological members.

This cycle becomes increasingly embedded when congressional districts are drawn to support such a system. The end result is what we see happening in Washington today -- gridlock based upon both partisan and ideological whims.

A common criticism is that both parties are putting their own interests above the interests of the United States. Once again, Washington offers good advice to our current policymakers. "The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles."

For the sake of the country and the world economy, let us hope that our representatives begin to see themselves as Americans, rather than Democrats and Republicans. Thank you Mr. President.